PURCHASE OF WIVES. 241 



work for his aged wife to cultivate his ground, and 

 that she had teazed him to take another, for whom 

 he had recently paid four oxen. This story the old 

 woman confirmed, observing that it was infamous 

 for the girl to run away and give them so much 

 trouble. The price of a woman varies according 

 to her rank ; among the Amakosa tribes, ten head 

 of cattle is the usual price, but farther in the inte- 

 rior the value of wives diminishes, and they are to 

 be obtained at a much more moderate purchase. 

 I was told that most of the young CafFers on the 

 Missionary Stations manage to procure their wives 

 for three oxen, the Missionaries becoming secu- 

 rity for the payment, while those living at a dis- 

 tance are never supposed to have completed the pay- 

 ment as long as they have a cow, a sack of corn, or 

 an assagai left. It frequently happens that, in their 

 hurry to marry, they neglect to make any stipulated 

 bargain with the wife's father or brothers previously 

 to taking her, so that they are left quite at the mercy 

 of these relations. If they refuse to comply with their 

 demands, the wife is taken away, and disposed of 

 to another suitor. In the course of time, the former 

 husband goes with an ox as a present, and again 

 claims his wife, when, if her restoration is denied, a 

 lawsuit is commenced for the return of the cattle 

 which he has already paid on her account. 



Amongst the Amaponda tribes it is considered 

 highly indelicate for a woman to marry a man of the 



VOL. I. R 



